


The Ties That Bind

by crimsonseastorm



Category: Transformers, Transformers Generation One
Genre: M/M, Rare Pairing, Slash, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-19
Updated: 2010-10-19
Packaged: 2017-10-12 18:50:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/127944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonseastorm/pseuds/crimsonseastorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tortured and severely injured by the Cons; Ratchet escapes and wants nothing more than to be with his bondmates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Title** : The Ties that Bind  
 **Pairing** : Ratchet/Lambo Twins  
 **Rating** : T/PG-13   
**Verse** : G1  
 **Warnings** : Mentions of torture, slash (and/or relations between two male identifying alien robots)  
 **Disclaimer** : Not mine, property of Hasbros and/or Dreamworks  
 **Summary** : Tortured and severely injured by the Cons; Ratchet escapes and wants nothing more than to be with his bondmates.

SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME THANKS to kittona who worked her magic beta skillz on this XDDD

Cycle=Week

********************************

“Fraggit.”

Ratchet staggered, systems screaming and he forced himself to remain upright as his vision flickered, “Slagging Cons.” He searched the surrounding area, looking for somewhere to hide…somewhere to fragging _sit down_.

Something had gone wrong in the last battle, what he didn’t know; all he knew was he was supposed to have cover and didn’t, and he had ended up captured. Just thinking of his torment made his processors threaten to glitch and he fought against the memory files they threatened to bring to the surface. He needed to focus on getting rescued and on his physical wounds…mental scars would have to wait until later.

He had heard of several thwarted attempts to get him out of the Cons’ grasp and that had given him a small thread of hope…that he was missed, wanted…needed. His capturers had tried to convince him otherwise and after a cycle of nearly nothing, he was almost willing to believe it; but the news of rescuers had given him enough of a glimmer that he had willed himself to stay silent… _and online_.

The cycle had been filled with pain; he was the Autobot Chief Medical Officer after all, in his processors were blueprints and schematics for every Autobot he’d ever treated…online or otherwise. The information the Cons could gain from those plans alone could be disastrous, not to mention that he was a participant in several important meetings and decisions. Though he had little say in decisions he was one of the older bots and they liked him to be present…why he didn’t know but it had been Prime’s request so he’d agreed to participate. He may not have the information Prowl or Jazz had but what little he did have could also be very valuable to the Cons.

In the end it wasn’t because of the Autobot’s that he was freed.

He was amazed when he was set free by Soundwave of all mechs. The only thing he could get out of the stoic, emotionless mech was, “I merely request you remember this for a later date.” Whatever that meant…and Ratchet could honestly say he had no idea what was going through the large Decepticon’s processors. He could only assume that when the time came he would know what Soundwave meant; for now, while he would include it in his report, there was no reason to dwell on it.

Though the Autobots had always considered Soundwave the most loyal of the Cons, ever at Megatron’s side, but there had been something different to him when he had arrived in Ratchet’s cell. Whatever it was had been expertly hidden by the flat faceless visor the blue mech always wore but the medic figured he owed somebody for something…what, again he had no idea. Though his first thought was that it was a trap; he had essentially been snuck out of the Nemesis with the help of the Casseticons and he wasn’t being followed.

It was aggravating that his communications array had been one of the first things his Con torturer had disabled, painfully of course, or he would have summoned some sort of help; ego and pride could be slagged. The bond inhibitor they’d put on him certainly wasn’t helping his circumstances any…it was just adding to his rather fragile state of mind…oh what he wouldn’t give to communicate with one of his bond mates at the moment; just for that bit of stability that the two brought him, which would sound ridiculous and insane to any other bot but he figured love seldom made sense to outsiders.

Primus, he had forgotten just how in love with them he was…and he hadn’t realized until this week how much they signified stability and safety to his spark. Being without them in his spark…in his mind…was worse than any torture the Cons could inflict on him and he’d bet all the energon in his lines the Cons knew that. They were so ingrained in his life…and for the past week he’d have nothing; no indication that they were even still online. The Cons had told him they’d been offlined but Ratchet believed with his entire spark that if they _were_ …he would know and he also believed he would have joined them in the matrix.

Primus wouldn’t be cruel enough to let him live without them…of that Ratchet was entirely certain but all the same…

Just to hear one of their voices would relieve his spark; the battle he’d been forced to leave had been particularly brutal and unfortunately, as frontliners, they could always be found in the thick of things usually bothering one of the pain in the aft seekers. He was always repairing one or the other after a skirmish and usually their injuries were far from minor; he only hoped that First Aid had learned enough from him to keep everyone online until he arrived…

If he arrived.

He had to admit the prospect of being found by a wandering Autobot patrol was becoming less and less likely and even less likely was the flitting idea that Soundwave had somehow contacted the Autobots to inform them their medic was free. That idea was beyond ridiculous and his processors deleted it almost as fast as they came up with it. So Ratchet was on his own, with more injuries and leaking energon lines than he cared to think about and he really needed to do something about those if he planned on living for more than another hour.

A small out of the way cave offered him a refuge, though that in itself was a catch-22…he would be out of sight from any straying Cons but he doubted an Autobot patrol would wander far enough to wonder what a spark signature was doing so far from either base especially as late at night as it was. Red Alert had a conniption if patrols wandered in the dark and nobody wanted to deal with a glitching, paranoid security officer at ridiculous hours of the morning.

He doubted that they would even consider that he had escaped and probably figured he was still in the clutches of the Cons which as far as it went was no better or worse than his current predicament. Except the Cons at least had been fighting to keep him online; an offline Autobot prisoner was a useless one because no one traded anything to get an empty shell back, not to mention the dead didn’t exactly spill Autobot secrets.

He dropped heavily against one wall of the cave, staining it in rich pink energon as he slid down in a position that let him oversee a fair amount of the surrounding area and he set to trying to temporarily weld several of his major lines…something very difficult considering most of the lines in his right hand were almost completely severed rendering it completely useless.

After ten minutes it was clear the repairs he could do weren’t going to be enough and he definitely wasn’t going to try to fix any of his comm lines…those were even more difficult to repair and _that_ was when they weren’t your own.

He inspected the bond inhibitor again; he had to admit that it was a spectacular piece of work…what he could see of it. It nestled snuggly about his spark chamber, making him almost completely sure that it was feeding directly off his own energy reserves, reserves which, in turn, were dropping rapidly...too rapidly for his own liking. He couldn’t see enough of it to disable it and wondered if it were possible to make it short-circuit with overwork; though there was the possibility that if it did short-circuit it would irreversibly damage his spark.

In the end he decided it was worth the try, he was probably going to drop into stasis lock soon regardless and he would rather offline trying to contact one of his lovers than from torture inflicted by the Cons.

He carefully pushed against the barrier across his bonds with his mind, testing its resiliency and its strength. He doubted anyone could create a barrier that was stronger than the ties between sparks but they had given it a good shot; it was going to take a lot of power to push past the barrier and even then he wasn’t sure if he could hold out long enough to get his coordinates through.

He’d have to trust that his bondmates could find him on whatever information he managed to give them. He pushed once more at the barrier and retreated, considering how much power he was going to need. He steeled himself and forcibly threw as much mental power against the barrier as he could spare.

The mental barrier bent but didn’t crumble or fade as he had hoped it would and nothing seemed to happen to the actual machine wrapped around his spark, but he could still feel the barrier give slightly. So perhaps at one point this had actually been Soundwave’s creation…only a telepath could create barriers to feed into machines. Machines that blocked bonds didn’t have barriers, in the normal sense…they were either there or they weren’t; they didn’t bend or crack.

He gathered his strength and pushed at the barrier again. This time something he could only equivalent to a crack appeared along the mental barrier and though it was faint he could feel through the bond, “Thank Primus,” he muttered, exhausted. The only thing he could muster with his remaining energy was to send was vague area coordinates, his actual navigation systems were also completely down so he was pretty much running blind at this point.

It would have to be enough.  
******************************************************************************  
Ironhide shifted restlessly as he peered through the bright blue bars of the brig; he didn’t agree with this particular punishment a bit. Even as problematic as the two had been this last cycle, he had fought fervently against their internment…he _never_ did that for anyone; much less these two. Usually as far as he was concerned the two deserved every bit of their punishments but he found this one exceptionally cruel; he had been sure that everyone in the general vicinity had heard his argument too which was maybe unfair to Optimus but it was completely necessary. He wanted other mechs to know what he thought, mostly in hopes that they would agree with him.

His own bondmate had never been captured and he hoped to Primus that it never came to that, but he could understand their behavior; to have a missing bondmate would be spark wrenching especially knowing how important that Ratchet was to the Autobots. It meant the Cons would be merciless in trying to extract information and Ironhide knew personally that wasn’t a pleasant experience.

Optimus had been relentless in trying to free their CMO. Jazz and Mirage had been out, repaired and sent back out numerous times. So far, _all_ their attempts had failed.

Though they had been close several times, and the information they had brought back on Ratchet’s condition had not been pleasant…he winced merely thinking about what Ratchet had gone through. Ironhide knew that was probably only scratching the surface of the medic’s ordeal and he sincerely hoped that the next attempt Prowl was planning would finally be successful; Ratchet was their friend and comrade…they weren’t just going to give up. They didn’t fault Prowl his plans, really for as little information as they had to go on the tactician’s plans were wonderful, they just couldn’t account for things they didn’t know about so each plan he had set forward had been better than the last.

Ratchet’s bondmates had argued with Optimus, loudly and violently. They knew that everyone was trying hard to get Ratchet back and they were tired of sitting back and watching. They had wanted to be part of one of the rescue attempts and Prime had refused, Prowl had agreed; they weren’t going. Subtle and stealthy just weren’t words that described the two. Regardless, the conversation had been rather spark breaking…

 _“This is ridiculous! If it were Ironhide you would want to go! Primus, you would probably go alone!”_

“I cannot allow it, I’m sorry,” Even if the two didn’t believe it Optimus truly was sorry and completely agreed, he would have stopped at nothing to go after Ironhide but he couldn’t risk anyone especially _with their Chief Medical Officer out of commission._

“I hope to Primus Ironhide is never captured. If he is we’ll be sure to restrain you…declare you unfit to lead…throw you in the brig! Whatever it takes to keep you from helping! Then you’ll know how we feel Prime…he’s everything to us…everything.”

“Trust me on this; I’ve known him for a long time. Ratchet would hurt more knowing the two of you were hurt rescuing him then he would if you were following orders to stay at base and just there to pick up the pieces. I promise you, if he’s not on board the Nemesis, if he’s managed to escape…I’ll allow you to accompany us but only until then. Ratchet would rather you were safe, he’s probably not in good enough condition to do repairs on anyone and it will be peace of mind knowing that neither of you are injured.”

It had been painful when Optimus followed this up with ordering them to the brig, just in case. He couldn’t spare the extra bots to keep a spare optic on them and he knew that if they were left to their own devices; they would be gone.

Ironhide had protested but it had fallen on deaf audios and because of his voiced opinion he had gained the honor of being their prison guard; they were notorious for getting out (and in) places they shouldn’t be. Though he could tell his bonded regretted almost all of the current circumstances. He could feel that Prime felt guilty that Ratchet had been captured and regretted having to take extreme measures in order to keep the medic’s bondmates out of trouble. The fact that Ironhide could tell across their bond meant that his bondmate was probably blowing it out of proportion but that’s just who Optimus was.

Ironhide returned to eyeing the mechs behind the bars, they were trying to hide it but the black mech had been around both of them long enough to read the worry etched in their frames. He was thankful they at least had each other, he couldn’t imagine having to deal with one and not the other; they were unstable at the best of times. They were also so used to having one another around that he assumed that they would be nearly hysterical without each other.

No, it was Ratchet who was alone and they had been even more worried when the two had reported the bond was closed or blocked off. Although he’d been alone most of his life; they were concerned by the effect not having anyone where there usually was would have on the medic. The red and white mech would never have blocked it off himself, well Ironhide didn’t know that for sure, but he had known Ratchet long enough to guess it was true. The more short tempered of the twins pounded a fist into the wall hard enough that the wall crumbled slightly and Ironhide was startled from his musing.

“Let me out.”

“You know I can’t do that; trust me, when I can I’ll be going with you. Ratch and I go back…nobody may miss him more than the two of you but I’m a close second, I’ll promise you that,” He frowned at the wildness that flashed in the mech’s eyes but it was gone a moment later. Ironhide had a guess, “Don’t you be doing that, you’ll get in more trouble than it’s worth and Ratch’ll need you when we get him back. You go doing something stupid and it’ll hurt him far more than it would you.”

The yellow mech growled and made to retort but his twin cut him off, “Sunny, As much as I hate to say it Ironhide’s right…we aren’t helping him in by acting like this. Prime supposedly knows what he’s doing and…”

The yellow mech turned to his brother with a scathing look, Sideswipe fell silent and Ironhide wasn’t entirely sure what they were doing except to guess they were speaking over their bond. He’d have to let it go; if anybody could calm down the volatile mech it would be his brother.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to kittona for the beta!

Cycle=Week

*************

 _::Stop it Sunny! Ratchet needs us to be calm.::_ Sideswipe understood his brother’s frustration, he was right there with him but he also heard what Ironhide wasn’t saying; if and when they found Ratchet, the twins would be going whether Ironhide had to go against orders to do it, something the red mech was grateful for. He made a mental note to keep the Weapon’s Specialist out of their prank list for a good long while after this whole fiasco was settled.

 _::How can he tell if we’re calm or not?! He’s not there Sides!::_ This frightened Sunstreaker more than he cared to admit and even if it had been agonizing, excruciating pain on the other end…it would have been better than the hollow emptiness he was feeling now.

Sunstreaker had realized that he depended on Ratchet just as much as he ever had his brother and while the idea was frightening, it wasn’t entirely unwelcome. There were only a few mechs that he had ever trusted enough to get close to, and of those, Sideswipe was the only one he could say with certainty was still online. The others the two had lost didn’t share the connection the medic did with the twins; they had had their share of mechs who would accept them both, which was something they had agreed on when they started courting mechs, but Ratchet meant more to the two than anyone ever had before. Neither of them cared what it took, the Cons had taken far too many friends from them, too many lovers and both silently vowed to the other…they weren’t losing their bondmate.

 _:: Something’s blocking it and you know he’ll figure it out. I mean come on, it’s Ratchet, and when he does we have to be calm enough to convince Prime we’re okay to go get him. You’re not helping anything. ::_ Sunstreaker could hide his fear well but Sideswipe knew him just as well; deep down his brother was unraveling and it was only a matter of time before he tried to bust through the bars of their cage, whatever Prime or Ironhide had to say about it.

 _:: It’s frustrating ::_ the yellow twin snapped, clenching his fists. He just wasn’t as open as Sideswipe could be; it just didn’t come easily to him and sometimes, especially around Ratchet, he wished it _was_ easier. _:: He should never have been captured! I’m going to dismantle whoever was supposed to cover him. ::_

Sideswipe winced, he knew exactly who was supposed to cover their bonded and knew that the mech was already reeling in guilt over “letting” the Cons take Ratchet. _::No you aren’t. Prime and Prowl already took care of it.::_ Though technically it _hadn’t_ been entirely Bluestreak’s fault and the way Prowl had spoken, it sounded as if the Cons had planned the diversion that had distracted the gunner in order to capture the Autobot CMO. In truth their commanding officers had figured that the guilt was punishment enough especially when they couldn’t entirely find fault with anything the young sniper had done.

 _::You know who?::_ The yellow twin gave his brother a firm searching look.

 _::Calm down Sunny. It’s taken care of. I…::_

Sunstreaker’s optics blazed with fury, and in a frighteningly calm, cold tone he demanded, _::Who?::_

Sideswipe never got the chance to answer as pain shot through their sparks.

Both the twins cried out in unison and clutched at their sparks; the red twin dropped heavily to his knees. He was vaguely aware of the bars disappearing and Ironhide calling first for First Aid, then Prime. Sideswipe groaned as his optics flickered, “Su…nny?” he stuttered in confusion, leaning heavily against his brother.

Sunstreaker wrapped an arm tightly around his brother and pulled him close; giving comfort unconsciously just by seeking it. The yellow twin was fighting to ignore the immense pain shooting through his chest plates and was instead following the path of pain back to the source; pain he was sure was going to belong to Ratchet. Sunstreaker could care less about his own pain, he had a high tolerance for it anyway, and he was more concerned about Ratchet and his brother.

First Aid and Prime paused in the entrance to the room when the yellow twin held up a hand and they waited for him to explain what was going on. Sunstreaker gritted his denta as he finally completed the bond and started receiving information from the other end, “Ratchet…off to the Northeast…some cave…can’t give us full coordinates but it’s not far.”

“It’s bad,” Sideswipe added, standing with help from his brother as the pain began to dissipate, “the bond’s barely there and the pain is unbelievable…it’s fading now which I don’t have to tell you isn’t good. We’re losing him.” A pained grimace crossed the red twin’s face and he shot a worried look towards his brother before settling his gaze sharply on Optimus.

“Roll out,” was all Prime said and the twins were gone, followed closely by First Aid. Optimus shared a look with Ironhide. They knew that every moment was time wasted…time that Ratchet didn’t have.

******************************************************************************  
Every moment was agony.

Ratchet didn’t know if anyone was coming for him. He’d stopped pushing at the barrier as soon as he had felt a flicker of confirmation in order to conserve strength and if he wasn’t forcing his way through the cracks then nothing was getting through from either direction. He also wasn’t entirely sure what he had passed through was enough information, it was getting harder to ignore the pain he was in and he had been more focused on getting through the barrier than the information he was actually passing through it.

He also wasn’t sure if there was another alarm his systems could throw at him, at this point he’d pretty much seen one of any he could think of. It definitely wasn’t a good sign that his lines weren’t sealing themselves off even a little bit by now. Cybertronians didn’t have automatically coagulating life fluids as humans did, theirs only did it as a last ditch attempt to keep energon around their important systems. It actually created a lot more problems than it solved but who was Ratchet to argue with Primus on how Cybertronians were designed? The only thing it really did was draw out how long it took a Cybertronian to die which Ratchet supposed was probably the idea behind it but as far as he was concerned if a mech was that far gone there wasn’t really any hope of survival. Really he supposed it was a good thing his systems hadn’t gotten that critical but as time went on it was becoming more apparent…he was dying and there was very little he could do about it.

 _He was dying…_

The thought echoed darkly through his processors and his vision darkened in an effort to keep him online but the remaining tendrils of his energy were fading. At this rate he was going to drop into stasis lock and he highly doubted that he was going to come back out of it, “Slaggers,” he muttered viciously, “Fragging Cons.” They were costing him any comfort or help he could draw from the twins in what were probably his last moments. If he had the bond his fight to stay alive would be easier, his bondmates were strong and not just physically; they could offer him things Ratchet had never dreamed of.

Not to mention they needed _him_ to keep them sane and out of trouble, “Fraggit!” he swore viciously, throwing several overrides into his systems and manually shutting down his unneeded processes. He wasn’t about to go down without an all out fight, with Primus if he had too, but he was weakening and wasn’t sure if even the overrides could keep him online now. His fuel pump stuttered painfully, pushing more precious fluid from the deep wound in his side and stuttered again when there wasn’t even half as much funneled back in from the other side.

Ratchet came to a decision.

He funneled the last bit of his power into a single message, a message that would probably, _finally_ shatter the barrier blocking him from his bondmates. It was going to be too little, too late and he could only hope his bondmates could forgive him; he wasn’t giving up…not by a long shot but he wasn’t going to be coherent any time soon to apologize for getting into this mess.

Ratchet carefully made clean slices just above the leaking wound in his side and, against all the medical training he’d ever had, welded them in a loop so it fed directly around his spark chamber, back into his fuel pump. Doing this by-passed most of his systems but as long as his spark didn’t fail…his body could be repaired; this way would result in a long, painful recovery process but it was his last chance and he wasn’t giving up.

Praying to Primus his bondmates had received his message, he allowed himself to drop into stasis.  
******************************************************************************  
 _::Sunstreaker….Sideswipe…Loves, I’m sorry…::_

The bond burst back to life; filled with agony, with fear…with spark deep sorrow and the twins balked at the message that came through, “No...Ratchet!” With the bond open it was easy enough to pinpoint their bondmate, inside an out of the way cave just inside NEST territory and the twins vaguely heard orders for the humans to stay back…for everyone to be ready for an ambush. They couldn’t bring themselves to think of anything but the medic, they forced themselves to the front of the group and into the cave where they caught their first glimpse of Ratchet in over two cycles.

It was bad; worse than either of them had imagined.

His optics were dark, energon pooled on the rocky floor beneath him and almost every part of Ratchet’s armor was covered in energon, energon from gouged lines and sheared plating. Marks from stasis cuffs appeared around his wrists and deep burns blossomed across his shoulders and chassis. The wound on his right side was deep and, from the energon on the wall where Ratchet had slid into his sitting position, they could only assume his back plates were shredded.

Sideswipe’s intakes hitched as he dropped to his knees beside his bondmate, hands everywhere and nowhere as he tried to figure out what he could do to help. First Aid pushed carefully past the brothers to his mentor’s side and quickly sealed several major leaking lines before shifting Ratchet into a laying position, “What can we do Aid? Tell us there’s something we can do!” Sunstreaker stood silently behind his brother, optics narrowed in fury at Ratchet’s condition and only his brother would realize that the anger was a mask hiding his own terror at his lover’s condition.

The red and white medic didn’t pause in sealing off the rapidly emptying lines but spared just a moment to eye the twins, “He needs energon badly, I don’t have near enough in the med kit and I’m not moving him an inch until he’s more stable. Are you willing to give from your lines?”

“Stupid question,” Sunstreaker hissed, surprising the medic when he dropped down next to him, “How?”

“Open your chest plates,” First Aid hesitated a moment at the look on the yellow twin’s face and then quickly patched a line from the yellow twin’s fuel pump into Ratchet’s, “You might feel light headed, as you’ll have less fuel coming back than your systems expect,” he turned slightly to Sideswipe, “I’ll do you in a second.” He worked to seal the worst of the injuries in almost complete silence, taking care to first re-route the medic’s fuel-pump back to his primary systems and Optimus gave orders for everyone else to fall back to base. He and Ironhide stayed, holding a silent vigil at the entrance to the cave and both twins were rather glad the young medic had thought to bring actual medical lights rather than deciding to rely on just headlights.

First Aid only paused in what he was doing to switch out the twins; Sunstreaker sat back heavily when he was finished and carefully caressed a hand across Ratchet’s slack face. He shot a sharp glance to the medic, daring him to say anything; the yellow twin didn’t easily show emotion and hated doing it in front of other mechs. First Aid said nothing; he didn’t gossip but being a medic he’d picked up on some things and he knew that Sunstreaker had taken a lot of scrap from other mechs who declared he didn’t care about Ratchet at all. The young medic only really knew Ratchet’s side of things and knew that his mentor loved the twins dearly, though he couldn’t really say why, and by all appearances they loved him just as much in return.

“Aid?” A tentative voice split the silence and the tired medic turned his optics towards Sideswipe, “How is he?”

First Aid sighed, turning his optics back to Ratchet and running another full scan, “I won’t lie to you Sideswipe. He’s not very good…I nearly have him stable but that doesn’t mean he’ll stay that way. We need to get him back to base so I can get replacement parts.”

“I can transport you both,” Optimus stepped closer, “You’re doing well, First Aid; you’ve learned what Ratchet’s taught you well and Hoist, Grapple and Wheeljack will be waiting in med-bay to assist if you need them. You’ll be taking over position of Chief Medical Officer until Ratchet’s back on his feet and I suppose I’ll have to strip him of his rank temporarily so he can’t order his way out of anything you say.”

“That’s much appreciated Prime,” First Aid carefully stood and watched as the twins carried Ratchet out of the cave, to a flat area where Optimus could shift to his alt-mode. He gave a quick glance to the twins before clambering up next to Ratchet, “I’m going to do everything I can. I promise you, Ratch isn’t going anywhere without a fight.”  
******************************************************************************  
Sunstreaker frowned restlessly at his recharging twin, leaning awkwardly against his shoulder and turned his gaze towards the red and white medic recharging on a spare medical berth nearby. It had been a long night and not just for First Aid. Ratchet was still rather touch and go; he had a while before he was going to be in the clear.

The younger medic had worked on Ratchet for nearly two earth days straight and while Ratchet was far more stable now, the red and white mech had been spending nearly every waking moment working on his mentor. Hoist and Grapple had been taking care of any other injuries, occasionally with Wheeljack’s help. First Aid rather needed the recharge he was getting; everyone could see that he was pushing himself to exhaustion, not unlike Ratchet would probably have been doing had their places been reversed.

Sunstreaker would never admit it but he was barely recharging; Sideswipe had probably noticed…his brother noticed everything but he just couldn’t drag himself from Ratchet’s side, much less force himself to recharge a full cycle. It was painful to see his lover so quiet…especially when he was in the med-bay; the absence of the CMO’s cursing led to a disconcerting peace and quiet. There had been a myriad of mechs visiting Ratchet; enough that the usually sensitive First Aid had started throwing people out. He was a decent medic, he knew enough now to keep everyone in working order but even with that, he was no Ratchet…it was pretty obvious, the Autobots were missing their CMO.

More importantly _he_ missed Ratchet.

He fidgeted in his chair and his twin protested incoherently, shifting to lean against the wall instead. He knew that Sideswipe had a hard time recharging without either his brother or their bondmate and Sunstreaker hadn’t realized why, but he imagined it was for a similar reason as his inability to recharge now. He was worried about them both and didn’t want something to happen while he was in recharge for fear he wouldn’t notice. The yellow mech only understood where his brother was coming from sometimes but he understood enough to not demand a proper explanation whenever his brother did something he didn’t think made sense.

Sunstreaker sighed as he flicked another glance towards his lover on the nearby medical berth and was shocked to meet dim blue optics, “Ratch…?”


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to kittona for the beta!

****************************  
Sunstreaker sighed as he flicked another glance towards his lover on the nearby medical berth and was shocked to meet dim blue optics, “Ratch…?”

“Sun…zzt…Sunstre…”

“Don’t,” the yellow mech quickly stood and crossed to Ratchet’s side, “Your vocalizer was damaged. Aid hasn’t gotten around to fixing it yet.” Sunstreaker fidgeted slightly before laying his hand over Ratchet’s tentatively, uncomfortable with displaying any semblance of affection in public; anyone could walk in at any moment and he had been treated less than kindly at the beginning of the relationship by some of the other Autobots.

 _::Love::_ Ratchet whispered across the bond, _::Why aren’t you recharging?::_

“I have been,” he protested; he fought to look anywhere but directly at Ratchet but the medic wasn’t having any of his evasion.

 _::Nonsense, my scanners still work even if the rest of me doesn’t. You’re low on energy…any fool can see that.::_

 _::He’s just worried about you Ratch. We both are.::_ Sideswipe joined them at Ratchet’s other side and the red twin dropped his head to the berth and he shuddered. _::Oh, Ratch… ::_

The yellow medic painfully shifted a servo to the back of Sideswipe’s helm. _::Love, love...I’m here, everything’s…::_

 _::Don’t you say everything’s fine!::_ the red twin hissed, _::We let you get captured…tortured! We nearly couldn’t find you! How is any bit of that fine?::_

Sunstreaker could only agree with his brother. _::It isn’t fine by a long shot and when we fight the Cons again…::_

 _::You won’t do anything ridiculously stupid. I can’t slagging well put you back together yet!::_ Ratchet was fighting now to sit up and he wished he had one of his wrenches handy; the twins for their part were trying to keep their lover from pulling out the lines in his arm.

“Excuse me! Lay your aft back down!” The voice was familiar but the tone was not and three sets of shocked optics turned towards an exhausted, pissed off First Aid, “I need to speak to Ratchet and he needs rest…not to mention the two of you need some of your own.”

There was protest in the optics of the twins but Ratchet cut them off before the younger medic could. _::Go::_

“Love you Ratchet,” Sideswipe gave his lover a soft kiss before turning, “Come on Sunny.”

“No,” Sunstreaker wasn’t leaving the med-bay until Ratchet could and he stubbornly sat back down in his chair.

“Sunny…” Sideswipe understood why his brother refused to leave. His twin was a very tactile mech, he preferred to be shown rather than told and the red twin doubted he was going to get his brother to cooperate or leave for any reason. The two medics could tell his brother that Ratchet was going to fine all they wanted but until it was true Sunstreaker just wasn’t going to believe it.

“I’m not leaving…I’ll recharge here if that’s what they want but until Ratchet’s actually up; I’m not going _anywhere._ ”

 _::Sunstreaker…get out.::_

 _::No::_ the frustration in the yellow twin was evident and his bondmates knew that it was more his inability to express why he wanted to stay rather than anger at anyone.

 _::I’ll leave the bond open. You’ll be able to feel me all the time and you’ll only be across the hall.::_

Sunstreaker clenched his fists spasmodically and stood, _::Ratchet, I…::_

 _::For me? Please? I’d rather not have to worry about your slagging aft when I’m directing First Aid._ :: The medic caught his yellow lover’s hand and forced the yellow mech to meet his optics, _::I haven’t broken a promise yet, have I?::_

 _::No::_ Sunstreaker admitted begrudgingly.

 _::I promise you…I’ll be fine. I’ll be better faster if I’m not worrying about whether you’re slagging well getting enough recharge. Go Sunny.::_

“I lo…I love you Ratch,” Sunstreaker didn’t wait for answer, just turned and stalked from the med-bay.

“You know him as well as me at this point…thanks,” Sideswipe gave Ratchet a soft grin of appreciation and left them to it.

“How…zkkt…kkkt…”

First Aid winced when Ratchet tried speaking. “Your vocalizer is scrap Ratchet; Wheeljack’s working on a replacement,” the medic gave him a terrified look, “No worries, Jack’s good at that sort of thing remember? It’s just his experiments that tend to blow up. I think I have your comm lines working though.”

//You do. Excellent work on them too.//

The younger bot ducked his head in embarrassment at Ratchet’s compliment, “I learned from the best Ratch.”

//Slagging right you did,// Ratchet chuckled, //You need help with something?//

“Placement on some of these wires and none of us wants to mess with whatever this is over your spark chamber without your direction,” First Aid glanced up at Ratchet when the medic shifted painfully to sitting, “What are you doing?”

//Get a mirror. I need to look at it to know what needs to be done.//

First Aid did as he was told and watched his CMO inspect the apparatus connected to his spark chamber. Ratchet directed Aid to hand him several tools and he carefully took some measurements, “Ratch?”

//Here// Ratchet handed him several tools, //You’ll have to listen closely.//

“Ratch…I’m not sure about this…I…I’m just not…” First Aid held up his hands and took a step away from his mentor.

//Don’t.// Ratchet said sharply. //Now is not the time to start questioning your prowess as a medic. If I didn’t think you could do it I wouldn’t ask. Now slagging take this and listen.//

First Aid took the laser scalpel Ratchet offered. //It appears they used some sort of adhesive to connect the outside of this to my spark chamber but whether there is some sort of hidden connecter// he shrugged, //I have no idea.//

“So that means what?”

Ratchet grimaced, //Well either you’ll be able to pry it off or it’ll hurt like the Pit and we’ll have to dismantle it in sections.//

“That’s not exactly reassuring Ratch,” First Aid mumbled nervously.

//I’m not worried about it; as long as you don’t slice through my spark casing I’ll live.// He gave his apprentice a reassuring smile, //but you already know how to avoid doing that. Now try this one in the front first; it appears to be the easiest to get to.//

“Right.”

First Aid took the scalpel and attempted to follow Ratchet’s directions but froze when the medic groaned painfully, “What?”

//You’re scraping along my spark chamber with a laser scalpel...it fragging hurts. There’s also nothing you can do about it so don’t worry about it.// The younger mech gave him an unconvinced look. //Either you do it or I use a mirror and attempt to do it myself; either way it needs to fragging come off.//

First Aid protested, “You can’t possibly do it yourself.”

It was obvious that coddling his apprentice wasn’t helping so he decided to switch tactics. He wasn’t about to tell First Aid that the thing was still leaching energon from his systems it would only further upset the younger medic and he didn’t need the extra stress when dealing with a spark chamber, //Then I guess you fragging well better get it done,// Ratchet snapped sharply.

First Aid gave him a shocked look; Ratchet rarely used that tone of voice with him. It was a sign of the CMOs thinning patience that he had even raised his voice at the younger medic, “Okay, Okay. I’m going.”

He repositioned and tried again, halfway through Ratchet’s agonized scream stopped him and the medic offlined, slumping back on the berth, “Ratch?!” First Aid panicked when he didn’t answer and started running any scan he could think of.

//I’m okay, I’m okay, knock it off// Ratchet groaned as he onlined and he shifted back to sitting, //I’d say it’s definitely attached to my spark chamber.//

“Ratch?” Sideswipe hovered just at the door to the med-bay and kept shooting glances back over his shoulder.

 _:: I’m alright Love. Just a minor setback and I didn’t block as well as I should have because I was worried how Sunstreaker would react::_

 _:: What hurt you like that?::_ Sunstreaker demanded, knowing that most procedures required sensor nodes to be turned off or numbed. Ratchet frowned; how much was safe to tell the yellow twin? He was already worried about the medic not being alright and somehow Ratchet doubted First Aid messing around with his spark chamber fell under the “everything’s-ok-here” category, _::What are you hiding?::_

 _::Yeah what are you hiding?::_ Sideswipe took another step into the med-bay but was stopped by First Aid, “What are you doing?”

“You’re bothering my patient. Get out,” there was no tentative, kind, shy First Aid here; no this was First Aid, Ratchet “The Hatchet’s” apprentice and he was every bit the temperamental medic his mentor was.

“What’s going on?” The red twin demanded.

“Nothing that concerns you; You’re wasting my time.”

Sideswipe exploded, “Doesn’t concern me!? He’s my bondmate!”

If the red mech had expected First Aid to back down…he was mistaken; if anything the Protectobot gained confidence,“He’s alive, not dying, and it’s a simple medical procedure. It doesn’t concern you. Get Out.”

The red mech shot his bondmate a look when Ratchet chuckled, “Fine…and Aid? As great of an impression of Ratch as that is, it doesn’t suit you.” He turned in walked out.

First Aid turned to Ratchet with a frown, “You can’t hide it from them. There’s going to be damage to your spark chamber and chances are…”

//Yes, I know but it’ll be over with then// Ratchet interrupted //and far less pressing…unless you want them to hover?//

“No, very much not…okay so what’s the new plan with this?” First Aid tentatively brushed over the contraption and looked up into Ratchet’s exhausted optics.

//We’ll have to cut through it from the inside// the look he received from the younger mech was nothing short of terrified and Ratchet set his hands carefully on the white mech’s shoulders. //Primus! Listen to me First Aid. You think I’ve always known how to do all the procedures I’ve done? You can only learn so much through theory; so much of what we do is hands on, which is why you are required to intern. Consider this a step closer to being a full-fledged medic if you must but you _need_ to do this, there isn’t anyone else who can.//

“Wheeljack…”

//Has been my friend since we were in the Academy and it would be no better than me asking Sunstreaker or Sideswipe to do it. Hoist and Grapple don’t have near the amount of knowledge that you do ergo you are my only option// First Aid stared at him in shock. The earnestness in Ratchet’s voice was genuine and the younger medic couldn’t say no, not to his mentor…his idol.

He sighed, “Open up.” First Aid steeled himself as Ratchet’s spark chamber hissed open and the soft blue light of his mentor’s spark washed over him. He steadied the laser scalpel in his hand and eyed the connecting points. It was going to hurt but he didn’t need to tell Ratchet that and he imagined it would be less painful than the torture of having it put in.

Ratchet grimaced as First Aid started, pain shooting through his sensors and he quickly groaned across the bond _::Sunny, Sides, I need you to deal with this. Aid doesn’t need…::_ the pain heightened sharply and he groaned quietly, _::He doesn’t need the stress and I don’t trust myself to hold it back and…and…I can’t…::_

 _::We’ll take care of it Ratch, no problem; stop hesitating::_

 _::Stay away…till he’s done::_

 _::Cross our sparks Ratch::_

He let the pain flood the bond and felt the twins gasp sharply through it; he didn’t dare let himself keep any, for fear that he would alarm First Aid. Once the younger medic found his confidence the procedure went relatively quickly and not ten seconds after First Aid was finished both twins returned, tight-lipped and fragged off. Sunstreaker just stood and glared at the younger medic while Sideswipe stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Ratchet who groaned softly, _::Sorry Loves. First Aid…::_

 _::Shhhhh it’s all good Ratch::_ Sideswipe shot his brother a look, “Sunny stop glaring the paint off of First Aid and get your aft over here.”

Sunstreaker hesitated a moment before crossing the med-bay and letting Ratchet pull him close, _::You alright Sunny?::_

The yellow twin focused a sharp look on him. _::Are you?::_

 _::As soon as my vocalizer is fixed I should…::_

 _::I don’t think he meant physically Ratch:: Sideswipe interjected, ::You’ve been through a lot.::_

Ratchet pulled them both closer burying his face in Sunstreaker’s neck. _::I…I’m...not ready to talk about it.::_

 _::It can wait…just remember we’re here for you.::_


End file.
